Suspect in Weehawken threat near Lincoln Tunnel arrested

Tim Fleischer reports authorities have charged a man from Pennsylvania.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

WEEHAWKEN, N.J. (WABC) --

A suspect is under arrest in connection with a threat that led to rush hour delays near the Lincoln Tunnel Tuesday evening.

Thirty-nine-year-old Donald Wallace, of Pennsylvania, has been charged with creating false public alarm and making terroristic threats. Other charges may be pending.

Authorities say Wallace has a significant prior arrest record in Georgia, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Dozens of heavily armed officers swarmed a train near the Lincoln Tunnel after someone phoned in a threat. Then, in a separate an unrelated incident, someone else reported seeing a gun on a light rail train.

Port Authority detectives made the arrest at midnight on West 47th Street and 11th Avenue.

The dual threats created big delays for commuters and gave them quite a scare.

The first 911 call came in around 5:15 p.m., with the caller making a general threat against New York City. Weehawken police told Eyewitness News a man called 911 claiming to have high-powered weapons, and a plan to use them somewhere in the city.

It triggered a huge response at Park Avenue and 19th Street in Weehawken, where the call was traced, and traffic was halted on local roads near the Lincoln Tunnel. As police conducted their search, commuters were left stranded with no answers.

Some bus passengers going to Hoboken had to get off their buses and walk.

"We just sat there on the bus for 45 minutes," one rider said. "People were getting let out of their buses, walking down the highway. Our bus driver wouldn't let us out. Everyone was yelling and screaming."

As police wrapped up the search after finding nothing, a train conductor on the Hudson-Bergen light rail line was told there was a passenger on board with a gun.

That train was stopped and evacuated, and passengers were questioned. No gun was found.